Category: Smithwick

Cowboys & Rodeo, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Sound of Hoof-Beats

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I was the kind of kid that wanted to ride a donkey while everyone else rode horses. Tar Baby was an average donkey to most but he was my pride and joy. We rode in rodeo parades with me dressed as a clown. Tar Baby & Me Kenny, my older bother was quite the horseman. He lived to break and train horses. I was made to help with the horse breaking, but it was something that I could have done without. By the time I was 7 or 8 years old our spending money came from working with Shetland Ponies. … Continue reading The Sound of Hoof-Beats

Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Old Lumber Company Ranch Gates

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Remember back when most ranch gates were made like the one in this picture. They all became roadside advertisements for the lumber company they came from. They were call “Can’t Sag Gates“. Maybe they should have been called “The Warp Like A Son Of Gun Gate“. Ronnie Lewis and Kenny Lewis in about 1955 Continue reading Old Lumber Company Ranch Gates

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, On The Job, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings5 Comments

The Disease

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It was in the hot summer time and I was out of school for the summer. I was about 14 or 15 years old and working for my Dad, Cecil Lewis. We were building a road down by Turkey Bend. Just country roads are all we built back then, hauling and spreading out caliche for new subdivision roads. I always ran the loader, loading the five or six dump trucks that hauled the caliche. The trucks were driven mostly by our school age friends, the ones at least sixteen and could get a commercial license. Socks Jackson was the mechanic … Continue reading The Disease

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days3 Comments

Cec And The Soldier

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Cecil was my Dad. My brother and I called him Cec. No one else did. It was our name for him. He was from the old school as they say. He had a very rough exterior. Come to think of it he had a rough interior too. He was in the construction and trucking businesses. He worked hard his whole life. I always thought he was the toughest man I knew. He never backed away from anything or anybody. Once when I was about 13 or 14, my friend Billy Gene Henry and I accompanied Cec on a trip to … Continue reading Cec And The Soldier

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Kenny Lewis, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days1 Comment

The Flying Stick

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It was my 16th year of life. My brother Kenny was in college up at Tarleton, his second semester and had moved into an apartment, that had formerly been occupied by a cop he was told. The cop had left a night stick behind. Kenny was sure that I would need that club one day, so he brought it home to me. He always looked out for me like that. The wooden stick had been drilled through the core had a steel rod inserted. I kept it stuck between the seat and the console. My means of transportation was a … Continue reading The Flying Stick

Amazing Things, Funny Happenings, Smithwick, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Falstaff Beer and My Uncle Oscar (Ott)

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This first photo makes me think about my mother’s oldest brother, Oscar Leland Boultinghouse.He was a fiddle player, that played around the Central Texas Area in many of the dance halls and was known as Oscar “Falstaff” Boultinghouse. I always supposed it was due to a beer company sponsorship, which was a popular thing back in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.For many years, perhaps to the end, he had a special affinity to Falstaff Beer, his brand of choice. Continue reading Falstaff Beer and My Uncle Oscar (Ott)

Amazing Things, Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Smithwick, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Race Was On

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This is the story of one of the greatest car races ever held in Smithwick. His name was Curtis Brown Parker. Brown Parker was how he was known. Brown was the person my Dad looked up to more, maybe than anyone else. Brown was several years older that Cecil Lewis. I believe that Brown help him become a man in more ways than one in his early days in Smithwick, Texas.However in the 1940’s Brown and Eula moved to California, the same as a lot of people did during that period of time. They operated laundries in and around Carpentaria, … Continue reading The Race Was On

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early Days11 Comments

Brown Parker’s Well

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Brown Parker and wife Eula moved back to Texas after spending 3 decades or so out in California, to a couple of acres down on our old home place on the hill overlooking the Lake. He went up to Marble Falls and bought a building that needed to be moved. He set it up on stilts the way it had been in town, so it would improve his view. Many of you may remember this building. In the earlier 60s it was a snack bar that Mr. Seals and Mr. Hill had built at the mini-golf place. To have water … Continue reading Brown Parker’s Well

Crazy Times, On The Job, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

A Loader Laying On It’s Side

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In the early days we didn’t have the best equipment to work with. We didn’t expect anything to start without jumper cables or pulling or pushing it to start it. We had an old HD 5 Allis Chalmers Track Loader that we’d been using to clean out a stock tank down on our place. When we stopped for the day, on the before we parked it beside the road so we could reach it with a pair of jumper cables. There was a road cut with the bank about four feet tall that the loader was sitting up on. When … Continue reading A Loader Laying On It’s Side

Another Daily Happening, Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Doing A Head-Plant In The Mud

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I was 17 years old. Lake Travis was really low like it often is. We had a D-7 bulldozer and a Cat 12 motorgrader down along the bottom land adjacent to the water, cleaning up and leveling out so when the lake came back up. We knew it wouldn’t stay smooth but Cec had a good idea. Mainly something to keep me busy. My helper was David Jordan, my one day in the future brother in law. He was a couple of years younger than me. If I remember correctly it had been a fairly uneventful day, that is until … Continue reading Doing A Head-Plant In The Mud